WASHINGTON (AFP/CGTN) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi will lead a congressional delegation to the Asia-Pacific region, her office confirmed on Sunday, with stops in Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan.
The statement made no mention of whether the six-member delegation would visit Taiwan, a flashpoint in conversations between China and the United States in the run-up to the trip.
“The trip will focus on mutual security, economic partnership and democratic governance in the Indo-Pacific region,” Pelosi’s office said in a statement.
The all-Democrat delegation includes Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Gregory Meeks and members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Armed Services Committee.
Singapore’s foreign ministry confirmed Pelosi’s delegation would visit the city-state August 1-2, with meetings scheduled with President Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
For weeks, U.S.-China tensions had heightened over reports that Pelosi may visit the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which China sees as part of its territory.
On Thursday, President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping held a tense phone call.
The two leaders agreed to schedule their first in-person summit but disagreements over Taiwan clouded the conversation, with Xi making an oblique warning to the United States not to “play with fire” over the island.
The United States maintains a policy of “strategic ambiguity” over whether it would intervene militarily were China to invade Taiwan, and while it recognizes Beijing’s claim to the island, it also backs the Taiwanese government.
In the latest warning from Beijing, Chinese air force spokesman Shen Jinke on Sunday said defending China’s territory was the military’s “sacred mission”.
“It is the sacred mission of the PLA Air Force to safeguard the territory of our motherland,” he said.
“The air force has firm determination, full confidence and sufficient capabilities to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Shen said, according to the People’s Daily.
The spokesperson made the remarks at a press briefing about an open-house event of the PLA Air Force in Changchun, the capital of Northeast China’s Jilin Province, scheduled to kick off from August 26 to 30.
An air show featuring the PLA Air Force’s achievements over the past decade will also be held during the period.
Pelosi, who is President Joe Biden’s equal in rank as leader of one of the three branches of government, would be the highest ranking U.S. politician to travel to the island since 1997.
She has so far declined to discuss the details of her trip, but said last week that it was “important for us to show support for Taiwan.”
Former U.S. president Donald Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social on Friday that “the China mess is the last thing Pelosi should be involved in — She will only make it worse.”
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force on Sunday said it has conducted island patrols to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.